Prof. Mark Tunick Prof. Dan White

Students will form 3 or 4 groups, depending on class size. Each group will select a topic that raises an ethical issue: the topic must be approved by both of the instructors. Groups will formulate a plan for researching their problem area, with the help of the instructors, and divide up the work equitably. The report must be based on not merely library research (consulting news, court cases, articles, etc.) and application of course readings, but also on interviews. You should go out into the community and learn about the ethical views people have. The project will culminate in a group presentation during one of the last 4 class meetings. Each member should play a significant role in the group presentation. The group will turn in a collective report of approximately 4 pages (1000 words) that concisely provides a background of the problem, a discussion of their process of information gathering, the results, and a conclusion. Each group will also prepare a one page outline that they will hand out to the class for their group presentation. The date of your group's presentation will be determined by lot unless groups can mutually agree on which group presents on which date. The grade will be based on the group presentation and report. In most cases, all members of a group will receive the same grade for the project; however, if it becomes apparent that a member of a group failed to do their fair share, that member's grade may be reduced. To help assess this, each student will hand in a brief statement detailing their particular contribution to the group.

Ethics and art. Choose some work(s) of art (visual art, music, literature, film) by a local artist or artists whom you can interview, and whose works you can study for their ethical importance. Consider whether the works are successful in conveying significant ethical issues to the public, and whether the outlook expressed by a given work conforms to any of the ethical perspectives we are considering this term.  You may further wish to include the idea of multiculturalism in your project, focusing on an artist from an identifiable ethnic heritage who wishes to express ethical issues relevant to his or her tradition (the preservation of cultural heritage, equality in education, preservation of the native habitat) in relation to the values of the surrounding culture.  Hence you might want to study the work of a Native American artist from south Florida, for example, interview the artist, and perhaps take a trip to an Indian reservation to fill out your ethnological research into arts and ethics. Do ethical perspectives arise here that are not included in the European intellectual tradition (at least as we have studied it so far)?
 
Environmental ethics. The fate of Florida's natural environment is a topic of continuing and heated public debate and ethical concern, both on the local and the national levels.  Choose a major issue in the controversies over Florida's ecology--such as policy regarding Everglades restoration, the Kissimmee River Restoration Project, the conflict between development and preservation of the environment, the preservation of an endangered species--and research the key policy alternatives available.  Then bring key ethical perspectives we are studying (or additional ones you think are relevant) to bear on the issue, showing how different courses of action might be influenced by different ethical standpoints.  Consider whether any standpoint seems, overall, preferable in addressing our environmental issues.  As part of this project you should  interview key players in Florida's environmental debates, perhaps a state congressman or congresswoman, local developers, members of  the Florida Center for Environmental Studies, wildlife officers, and other interested parties.  Are traditional theories of ethics sufficient to cope with environmental issues?

Plagiarism and Honor codes. How prevalent is cheating in universities and how have colleges responded? Are honor codes effective? What alternatives are there? What counts as plagiarism: having a classmate correct a draft? What if the assignment is in Spanish and you ask a native speaker to correct your grammar? What are the authoritative sources for discerning what counts as plagiarism? What are some of the ambiguous cases and how should they be resolved? What are existing penalties for plagiarism and cheating and what should they be? Can a college expel students only for academic dishonesty, or can they require students to be ethical outside of the classroom? You might research various honor codes, as well as conduct interviews of those who serve on honor code boards.

The ethics of fighting terrorism . What limits if any should there be on the government's ability to gather information about terrorists? May it use torture to find out about an imminent plot that could kill thousands? You might conduct a survey of people's attitudes about the proper use of torture and explore the sort of reasoning they use to reach their conclusions.